Bloon Rush/Strategies
This page is an article for a list of strategies for countering Bloon Rushes. In most cases, explosions and towers capable of splash damage and/or high popping power and DPS may counter Bloon Rushes well. Feel free to add your specific strategies for countering Bloon Rushes in a new Level 3 Header below each "General notes" section. You may also change the "General notes" sections as well. Dart Monkey General notes Dart Monkeys can shoot darts, but is generally not a good idea to shrink Bloon Rushes. However, they can launch spiked balls if upgraded to Spike-o-pult or Juggernaut. Juggernaut would do especially good for decimating Ceramic Bloon layers. Large numbers of 2/3 Dart Monkeys also work, as each can throw three darts at once. Tack Shooter General notes Tack Shooters shoot within its radius and produce area damage. Area damage is good for damaging as many bloons as possible using the fewest times of shooting possible. It could be upgraded to a Ring of Fire, which pops many bloons in its radius. Two Rings of Fire can pop a super long rush up to rainbow bloons. Sniper Monkey General notes Sniper Monkeys only get rid of individual bloons. It is not recommended to simply rely on them to remove Bloons Rushes. They do, however, reduce the stronger bloons into smaller chunks that are less dangerous. Consider using a 2/3 Semi-Automatic Rifle to pop out chunks of stronger bloons, but be careful about their targeting the MOAB-class, because other towers could do better at destroying MOAB-class than a 2/3 Sniper Monkey. Ninja Monkey General notes Ninja Monkeys are good for wiping out Bloon Rushes, however, is not good for wiping out Regrow Rushes. They may be good for removing a large number of bloons layer by layer, but they can be a nuisance when trying to remove Regrow Rushes, because they can often unintentionally leave strong regrow bloons to grow after being popped partially. A good upgrade path to use is the 2/3 Flash Bomb, and combine with other similar towers with bomb projectiles, to give a good impact to the stunned bloons. A 4/2 Ninja Monkey can hit up to 20 bloons at once and can strip layers of many bloons. Sabotage Supply-Lines Sabotage Supply-Lines is used to slow down bloons for easier bloon removal. Not so for bloon rushes. This ability makes the bloons in the rush more bunched up and is much more difficult to completely destroy them. Usually, that can be countered with a large number of towers with high area damage and/or high damage per second, though that is quite expensive to do so. Boomerang Thrower General notes Boomerang Throwers are good at dealing with rushes if upgrade to at least any tier-3 upgrade. Such upgrades work well in different ways. A Glaive Ricochet can strip layers off many bloons, while a Bionic Boomer can destroy a smaller number of bloons very well within its range. A Glaive Lord is also a good choice, as the rotating glaives have infinite popping power. Bomb Shooter General notes Bomb Shooters can shoot bombs which explode over a large area. Cluster Bombs or Bloon Impact may also be good for removing non-MOAB-class rushes, because the secondary bombs can further damage the Bloon Rush structure. Bloon Impact is especially good because it can pop Black and Zebra Bloons, as well as stunning all bloons affected. Ice Monkey General notes Upgrade to Arctic wind and Permafrost, it can halt immense rushes so that all other tower to take aim at it. However, if it is not within the range of the Monkey Intelligence Bureau, White and Zebras can cause big problems. While it doesn't work well on thin/long rushes and other towers can do the job just as well, the ice spikes upgrade can create mayhem amongst tight groups, being able to eliminate the ceramic rushes on wave 74 (BTD5) with a single shot. Glue Gunner General notes 2/3 Glue Gunners can quickly stick lots of bloons, fast enough to keep up with amount of bloons needed to soak. Fortunately, upgrades Glue Hose or Glue Striker make bloons much slower, decreasing bloon speed from 50% to 40% and 30% respectively. Combining that with other similar slow-down towers and bloons will move so slowly they will easily get destroyed. Using the alternate path with Glue Splatter will make the Glue Gunner more effective against Ceramic Bloons because of the fact that the glue will crack the ceramic layer fast enough to start the slowing effect. Though not as many bloons will be affected as Glue Hose or Glue Striker, Bloon Dissolver and Bloon Liquefier will weaken the Bloon Rush structure. Mortar Monkey General notes Mortar Monkeys shoot mortars with explosions over a large area. Napalm may also be used to add additional pop to bloons, especially to pop black and zebra bloons. It is also useful when upgraded to Signal Flare, if there are Camo Rushes, which strips off the Camo status out of affected bloons. A 4/2 Mortar can remove many layers of Bloons, which can prevent high ranked Regrowth Bloons from duplicating itself. It is much more useful when combined with towers which slow down bloons, which include but are not limited to Ice Monkeys and Glue Gunners. Dartling Gun General notes One of the best ways to deal with rushes. They can fire rapidly, especially when the Dartling Guns are 2/2 and above. Such towers usually leave little or no bloons behind, the "survivors" of which can be easily dealt with using other towers. There are some disadvantages, however, the first one being that unless you have a Dartling Ammo Dump, the Dartling Gun is hard to control because it follows touch/mouse, and is uncomfortable to try and reposition the Dartling Gun, especially if the player tries to upgrade towers on the spot. Another disadvantage is that the upgrades of the Dartling Gun are quite expensive, especially for BMC players, so the Dartling Guns may not be able to reach 2/2 before a devastating rush of Regrow Pink Bloons swiftly overwhelm the player's towers. A 4-2 Dartling Gun can counter any bloon rush, if focussed at the bloons well. Spike Factory General notes Spike Factories are not the best for removing Bloon Rushes by themselves, however, they can "mop up" the last few bloons that manage to pass through the defenses of the other towers. It is recommended to buy a 4/2 Spiked Mines because of the explosions they make after losing their spikes, if using Spike Factories to deal with Bloon Rushes. A 2-4 Spike Storm is also a good tower to use to deal with Bloon Rushes, especially when using the Activated Ability. Monkey Buccaneer General notes Monkey Buccaneers are quite good against Bloon Rushes, if upgraded well. Unupgraded Monkey Buccaneers are no match to any regrow rushes above that of Green Bloons. However, a 2/2 Monkey Buccaneer can quickly smash through the ranks of most regrow rushes. A 3/2 Monkey Buccaneer is more reliable in removing regrow rushes, especially very dense ones, because it can shoot fast enough to destroy a whole section of a Bloon Rush. Monkey Ace General notes Monkey Aces are good at removing Bloon Rushes, but find it difficult to remove Regrow Rushes easily. However, when upgraded to Spectre or Ground Zero, they can counter them well. Spectre can shoot many pursuing darts at once and many times, while Ground Zero is capable of dropping a bomb that will wipe out every single non-MOAB-class bloon and damage all MOAB-class. When deciding between tier-3 upgrades, be aware that Neva-Miss Targeting will promote more accuracy for greater poppage, while Operation: Dart Storm will generate more darts for greater poppage. Monkey Apprentice General notes Monkey Apprentices are usually weak against Bloon Rushes, but when upgrading to include Lightning Bolt and/or Summon Whirlwind or Tempest Tornado, it can be quite effective against Bloon Rushes from "rushing" towards the exit. The Lightning Bolt can strip many, almost all bloons at once, while the Summon Whirlwind and Tempest Tornado can blow a large amount of bloons away from the exit. The Dragon's Breath upgrade can also be used to burn down a section of a Bloon Rush quickly. Despite the fact that tornadoes can push bloons back, tornadoes can make high-ranked Regrow rushes even worse. Super Monkey General notes Super Monkeys are great at removing Bloon Rushes, but they are generally quite expensive to buy and upgrade, and can only pierce one bloon per dart at the start (hey that rhymes). It is recommended to buy more upgrades which involve adding pierce. Note that a Sun God is better at concentrating at one area, while a Robo Monkey is better at popping bloons from two perspectives. Technological Terror may also be effective, and, if on a good corner, its Bloon Annihilation ability will destroy many bloons in its radius well. TOTMG would obviously be THE most effective, although it is very expensive, and lot of investment is needed to get all of the awesome effects produced by TOTMGs. However, with enough sacrifice of towers, a single maxed TOTMG may as well destroy any and all Bloon Rushes, including just about all of the Packed MOAB-class, provided that the Packed MOAB-class do not move too fast. Also, if the player can afford it, placing 2 or more maxed TOTMGs in the right places may as well protect you even from packs of the dreaded DDT. Monkey Village General notes The Monkey Village is great for lowering the price of upgrading things. When another monkey is inside the Monkey Village radius, it will receive bonuses, such as boosts to the monkeys attacking range, allowing for detection of camo bloons, increasing attacking speed, and allowing certain bloons such as lead and frozen to be popped regardless of the monkeys used. The Monkey Village cannot attack unless upgraded to 4/0 and up, at which point it gains an ability that functions much like Wizard Monkeys Lightning Bolt attack, but without the chaining effect, and an attacking speed much like a Super Monkey. Try placing this tower near other monkeys which are costly to upgrade, and save a great 10% on upgrades! This is especially helpful for the 4/2 upgrades on Dartling Monkey. Note that Path 1 focuses more on helping the surrounding towers for efficiency (as in range increase, attack speed increase, 50% extra cash from pops, and decreased cooldowns), while Path 2 focuses more on helping the surrounding towers to gain effective popping (as in +1 pierce, camo detection, all-bloon poppage, emergency boost of towers). Banana Farm General notes Other than simply generating income for towers and upgrades, it does not damage or affect the outcome of bloons. However, certain strategies can be made from how Banana Farms are used. Usually, try to go for the Path 1 upgrades, as they are more efficient in cost amounts. Dartling Guns may be harshly affected by trying to constantly grab bananas, so Path 2 upgrades may suit better if trying to avoid distraction by the bananas. This can be averted by placing the banana farms under the fire of the Dartling Guns, provided you use the tower on one specific spot (though this is not usually the case). Monkey Engineer General notes Monkey Engineers can be effective, but only when there are a large number of them and their sentries. Having at least three 2/2 Monkey Engineers scattered around the whole map is quite effective against Bloon Rushes. 3/2 or 2/3 Engineers may also work as well. Consider adding a 2/2 Monkey Apprentice to pop nasty Lead Bloons that Monkey Engineers would find frustrating. Add more Camo-detecting towers to counter Camo Bloons, or try to get Monkey Knowledge to educate Monkey Engineers to Rank 3 so that the sentries can get rid of Camo Bloons (BMC and BMC Mobile only). Heli-Pilot General notes Heli-Pilots can take down rushes well if a large amount of 3/1 or 3/2 Heli-Pilots set on pursuit swarm the bloon rush, chopping and popping the Bloons up. Four Apache Dartships can take down Ceramic bloon rushes very easily. Monkey Sub General notes They work well against Regrow rushes only if they are 2/2 or more and if there are other towers around (Note: For best results there will have to be more than one Monkey Sub). A 4/2 Sub is a better choice because while submerged, it has an infinite pierce with it's radar. Bloonchipper General notes Bloonchippers will suck up bloons in like a vacuum cleaner but not all will suffice. 2/3 to 2/4 Bloonchippers are best for dealing with non-MOAB class bloons, while 4/2 Bloonchippers are best at dealing with the MOAB-class. 3/2 Bloonchippers are cheaper than 2/3 Bloonchippers, but 3/2 Bloonchippers appear to be more effective against Ceramic Bloons, Regrow Bloons and simply just better attack efficiency (compared to improved sucking up efficiency from Triple Barrel). Taking advantage of setting 3/2 Bloonchippers to strong will chip away the ceramic layers that some towers find frustrating, though be aware that the bloons are well away from Spike Factories or the spike defense may as well be harshly affected. Road Spikes General notes Road Spikes should not be high priority for dealing with rushes, because it can make the player lose more cash than it receives. Prepare towers earlier to avoid having to procrastinate with Road Spikes, which doing so would be not very economic. Not preparing for Bloon Rushes early and applying a mass of Road Spikes in the last minute would waste a lot of cash, which could be spent on other useful things beforehand. Pineapple General notes Pineapples, like Road Spikes, shouldn't be used for dealing with rushes. First, they have a 3-second time delay before exploding (accelerated if Fast Forward is on), even though it is cheaper than Road Spikes. Also, it takes too much timing and concentration to even pop one bloon with a Pineapple. Worst of all, in BMC Mobile and BTD5 Mobile, the Pineapple has been nerfed to have a smaller explosion. Category:Strategies